Well over thirty Watchers sat around the huge table, including Jack Arthur and Giles. Others were crowded around in the small room. Every person who had any kind of connection to the Watchers, any one who worked for them, was there. Mr. Clark sat at the head of the table, Ms. Leigh, the second in command, on the other side. "What happened to the vamps outside?" Buffy asked from her position against the wall.
"What vampires outside?" one Watcher asked, looking at her in confusion.
Buffy and Angel exchanged incredulous looks. "There were well over a hundred vampires out there!" Buffy said. "You can't tell me you got rid of them all!"
"There were none when I arrived," the Watcher answered.
"But . . . " Buffy looked at them with wide-eyes, then turned to Mr. Clark and her eyes narrowed. Perhaps he had predicted something like this might happen, and had called them off.
"What is this meeting about?" the Watcher who'd answered her question asked, looking from Clark to Ms. Leigh with a puzzled expression.
Ms. Leigh cleared her throat. "This is about Mr. Clark, and something we have learned just tonight. I'll turn this meeting over to Mr. Giles, Miss Summers' Watcher, to give you the full explanation."
Giles explained to his fellow Watcher's about Buffy's hearing, about the attack on her mother, about Principal Snyder, and their break in as well. Then he looked at Willow. "I believe she can better show you this next part," he said.
Willow winced as she looked around the room of Watcher's in business suits, then she glanced towards Xander, Angel and Buffy for support. Focusing on them, she once again took out the disk and explained how she'd found it. Then she loaded up the two files. "If you check Mr. Clark's private computer you'll see this file, the one that states Christine is still alive and well in Pontoise, was deleted and recovered by me."
"How did you get into that?" Mr. Clark demanded, rising. "That computer's password is known only by me!"
Willow shrugged. "Well, you're computer wasn't very well protected."
"That computer had state-of-the-art protection against any kind of program you could have used to crack that code!" Mr. Clark retorted angrily.
"Obviously it wasn't protected against my program," Willow answered with another small shrug.
Ms. Leigh cleared her throat and glared at Mr. Clark, gesturing for him to sit down. "You are not in command here," Mr. Clark said to her coldly.
"We'll see about that," she answered. "Having just heard all the information, I am envoking my right as Second-In-Command to challenge Mr. Clark's position as head of council. All those in agreement with me, please raise your hand. Remember it must be unanimous to avoid a hearing."
"Trial," Buffy said with a slight cough meant to disguise her word. Angel and Giles both glared at her as Willow and Xander snickered.
"I will inform Mr. Zabuto of these events and see what he has to say after taking a vote right now," Ms. Leigh said. She looked at each of them, then nodded her head.
Giles' hand was in the air almost immediately, followed by Jack Arthur's. The rest of the Watcher's exchanged looks, then followed suit. Buffy also raised her hand, despite Angel's annoyed look, and Xander and Willow did the same. Angel muttered something unintelligible and crossed his arms.
Ms. Leigh smiled at the small interaction between the three of them, then clapped her hands. "Alright," she said softly. "Assuming Mr. Zabuto agrees as well, and I'm most certain he will, Mr. Clark you are no longer head of this Council. And I believe you know the consequences for your actions."
Two of the security guards who'd also been asked to vote stepped forward and grabbed both of Mr. Clark's arms. Buffy watched as they escorted him out of the room. "What's going to -- "
"You don't want to know," Giles interrupted, glancing up at her. Buffy frowned, then sighed.
"You're probably right," she agreed. "But what about Principal Snyder? We never found any proof that he was tied to -- "
"We already knew he was," Ms. Leigh said to her. "He is indeed a spy for Mr. Clark, and was one for Mr. Howard previously; he has been taken care of, as has the receptionist of the hotel you were staying at." At Buffy's shocked expression she explained, "We knew what was going on from the first, we just never had any absolute proof, until you came along. And for that this Council will eternally be grateful. I'm assuming you are aware you are still the Slayer, yes?"
"I kinda figured that," Buffy said slowly, looking at each face in the room with a frown. She glanced towards Angel, then Giles and Jack Arthur, then back towards Ms. Leigh. "Why am I getting the feeling I'm missing something here?" she asked the woman.
"Everyone must have their secrets, Miss Summers," Ms. Leigh said gently. "I believe Mr. Arthur will be escorting you back to Sunnydale tomorrow night, yes?" Buffy nodded. "Then, my suggestion to you is to go back to the hotel, and get some sleep. Do not wonder where your Principal is; I assure you justice will be served."
Buffy blinked, then nodded meekly. "Fine," she said, then turned and left the room, Angel following her a second later.
"Buffy," Angel said quickly, stopping her retreat. She turned back to him. "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," he warned her. "Believe me she is right, there are some things that are better left unknown."
Buffy stared at him open-mouthed. "Angel, do you realize what I have gone through? And they knew the whole time about everything, they just couldn't prove it? I had to go through all this crap for them! It's not -- "
"Fair," Angel replied softly. "I know. It's not." The doors opened and Angel moved out of the way as Giles, Xander and Willow came out.
"Giles," Buffy said immediately, "what are they going to do to them? To Clark, to Snyder, I . . . "
"Buffy, please, just listen to me this one time. Don't ask." With that Giles turned to leave. Willow and Xander didn't follow, but stayed with Buffy and Angel for a moment.
"Well, I guess we won," Buffy said softly. "I just wish I knew what went on." She sighed. "Oh well, guess it doesn't matter. I still have my job, we accomplished what we wanted. I just . . . I don't like it when my every question isn't answered."
"But you're mother's no longer in danger," Xander pointed out. "You're still the Slayer, Kendra won't be around anymore, you won't be attacked by any more vampires, well, no more than usual, and, on the really bright side, no more Principal Snyder to deal with."
Buffy laughed. "Good point, Xand," she agreed. "Let's get the hell out of here."
* * *
"Oh my God," Angel gasped, his eyes widening in absolute horror as he took an involuntary step backwards.
"Angel . . . " Buffy said gently, taking his hand. "It's okay."
"Oh God," Angel answered, his mouth open in shock. "No, that can't be what I think it is . . . it can't be . . . it . . . it can't be . . . "
"Please!" Jack Arthur said, staring at him. "This baby is one of the fastest jets on the market! I just want to fly back in style, since it is all over, we might as well relax. I'm certainly not a bad pilot."
"Oh God," Angel muttered, paying no attention to him as he stared at the small jet.
"Come on!" Buffy said with a grin. "Live on the edge, Angel. Dare to take chances! Where's your sense of adventure?"
"I think I lost it two hundred and twenty something years ago," Angel answered. "I was adventurous back then -- look what it got me."
"Hey, it got you me, remember," Buffy pointed out. "It'll be fun!"
"No way in hell am I going on that thing," Angel replied.
Buffy laughed, still on a high from having this latest nightmare over with. "Give me a break, honey. Unless you want to stay in Europe for the rest of your life you're just going to have to get on the jet. Can we do loops?" she asked Jack.
Jack shrugged. "Sure, if you want me to," he answered.
"Oh, so totally awesome!"
"Oh God," Angel gasped again.
"It's totally harmless," Jack told him. "Trust me. And besides, with this thing it practically cuts the travel time in half."
"Half?" Angel muttered, then turned to Buffy desperately. "You really don't want to ride this thing, do you? I mean, surely you'd much rather take the same plane we've been taking, right?"
"Hell no! It'll be fun!"
"Xander?" Angel begged.
"Sorry, Dead Boy," Xander answered, one arm around Willow and a grin on his face, "I happen to like jets."
Angel made some strange kind of noise that Buffy couldn't quite interpret as anything but a moan. "Come on, you'll be back in Sunnydale in less than six hours, all it'll take is just one little ride. Think of it as one of those rides in amusement parks. They're fun, right?"
"No," Angel answered.
"On, you can't tell me you didn't have any fun that one time when we went, remember?"
"Yes, I can," Angel replied. "Remember, happiness, gypsy curse? If I'd been happy and having fun I would've reverted then."
Buffy giggled. "Come on!" she said in exasperation. "Look, it's a jet. What's the worst that can happen!"
"Do I really need to answer that?"
Buffy grabbed his arm and yanked him a step closer to the jet. "If I have to pull you the entire way, that's what I'm gonna do," she warned him. "If you want to retain some small level of dignity you'll get on the big bad jet right now. Deal?"
Angel took one step forward, then looked at Buffy and stepped backwards. "No," he replied.
"Fine," Buffy said, accepting his challenge. With that she grabbed his arm once again, and pulled him the entire way up to the jet. "Now you either vamp out and kill me, or you get on the jet. Those are your only two options."
Angel closed his eyes and stepped on, then sat down and immediately put his seat belt on, crouching down in his chair nervously. Buffy rolled her eyes and sat next to him, while the others piled on.
"Ready to go?" Jack Arthur called out.
"Oh God," Angel muttered once more as the plane took off.
* * *
"It wasn't that bad," Buffy said firmly from her position on Angel's bed as she flipped through a magazine, watching him pace back and forth in her peripheral vision.
"Yes, it was," Angel answered. "I can't believe you made me go on that thing."
"Well, you're off it now," Buffy told him. "And that loop was fun!"
"My life flashed before my eyes," Angel retorted. "Do you realize how long that took?"
Buffy laughed, and rolled over to face him. "Relax," she said simply. "You never have to step foot on a plane again," she added, standing. "And, what's more, no one's angsting. I mean, Willow and Xander seem to be working out their avoidance issues, Giles and Little Ms. Gyspy are together . . . everything's right with the world."
"Is not," Angel protested weakly and somewhat immaturely, still pouting slightly.
Buffy ran her fingers up his chest and grinned wickedly. "Well, then, why don't we see if we can re-create some magical moments, huh?" she asked.
"Meaning what?" Angel queried, puzzled.
"Well . . .the last time we were here in your old apartment, right before you had that whole soul-loss thing, what did we do? I'll give you a hint, we did the same thing in a hotel room." Angel raised an eyebrow and said nothing. "Exactly! So . . . " Buffy trailed off and looked at him with a half smile.
Angel shook his head. "Romantic, Buffy. Very."
She laughed once again and shrugged. "Sorry. I'm not very good with romance. I mean, if you WANT me to GO and get candles and stuff . . . "
Angel grabbed her hands and lifted them away from his chest. "That's okay," he told her, nodding.
"That's what I thought you'd say," Buffy answered, and they both moved towards the bed.
* * *
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